Rep. Charles Key on the Facts of the Oklahoma Bombing

House Of Representatives

March 12, 1997

Dear Concerned Citizen:

My name is Charles Key and I'd like to share some personal
and inside information with you.

I'm an Oklahoma State Representative. I humbly ask you to
spare a few minutes to read some things that you have probably
never seen before on TV or read in the newspapers about some
shocking events associated with the Oklahoma City bombing.

Regardless what city or state you're from, you will likely
be affected more than you may ever know by that bombing and
pending trials.

On April 19, 1995 when I heard the news (and literally heard
the explosion) of the Murrah building I was dumbfounded.

As the realization sunk in that so many people and children
were killed, I, along with millions of others watching news
coverage, felt that indescribable, overwhelming sensation in the
pit of my stomach.

Yet, as the "story" unfolded, my spirits were lifted as I
saw example after example of shear human compassion and an
outpouring of unblemished, unconditional love flow forth in a far
greater degree than I had ever seen in any venue of life,
including and especially in political circles.

Put more bluntly, that sacrificial selflessness and unity
was the very antithesis of the type of behavior that so typically
embodies politics.

How refreshing it was to see people helping people without
the proverbial ugly political head rearing up asking, "What's in
it for me?" or "Why should I do that?"

As the weeks passed, I saw God-breathed compassion by the
citizens of Oklahoma and from many other states who joined in to
help. Those memories will never leave my mind and nothing can
eradicate the great amount of good that was done by those
thousands of acts of kindness.

As a matter of fact, it is that very visible love that helped me
hang on for the two tough years that followed. (I hope you will
take the time to read more about those years in the following
pages.)

Over the next few weeks, inconsistencies began emerging.
Stories kept changing and although I couldn't see the emerging
political angle, I could sense it.

Consider the following facts which caused me to become
initially concerned.

Fact #1:

The initial A.P.B. (All Points Bulletin) was for Middle Eastern
John Does in a brown pick-up truck. The Jordanian brought back
from London who had apparent bomb making materials in his
suitcase and other John Doe suspects who were described as Middle
Eastern.

The early reports told us about explosives inside the Murrah
Building. Remember how the rescue effort was "put on hold" while
the bomb squad entered the building to search for and take out
those intentionally placed internal explosives? Then those
reports were described in detail by local U.S. Congressmen and
bomb experts interviewed in studio by the media.

Fact #5:

Those reports also disappeared or were explained away as dummy or
'for show' items.

Fact #6:

Those who dared oppose the REVISIONIST NEWS ACCOUNTS, were
ostracized, mocked, discredited, dark-cornered, etc. I know, I
was one who dared to be politically incorrect.

Fact #7:

The ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) had field agents assigned
to the office at the Murrah Building. Yet, on the day of the
bombing, not one of those agents were killed. They were mysteriously,
uncharacteristically absent from the building that morning.

At some point it became painfully apparent that there was
more wrong than right with the federal investigation. That is
when I had a very tough decision to make. Should I sit and do
nothing and remain in my comfort zone simply "playing the part"
of the caring politician for the photo op's? Or should I really
do the right thing even if it meant giving the phrase
"politically incorrect" a whole new dimension?

It didn't take long after discussing it with my wife to
determine that I had to do the right thing -- no matter what the
consequences were to be.

Having come to that conclusion, I decided to go forward to
search out the truth and tell it to a waiting world.. Little did
I know the onslaught I was about to embrace.

Before I go on to tell you what I did that I believed was
right, allow me to tell you what some in the establishment news
media and political circles claimed I was doing wrong.

Major media has launched unheard of attacks against our
desire to conduct constitutionally sound and proper
investigations. The Daily Oklahoman and the Tulsa World have
published nine separate editorials viciously attacking me, Glenn
Wilburn and all those who have stood up and demanded all of the
truth about this terrible crime.

An editorial from the Daily Oklahoman entitled, "DROP IT,
MR. KEY” even had the audacity to say;

"As we argued when Key first set out on this course, the
Legislature and its staff had no business investigating the
bombing. It was, and is, poorly equipped to do so. The same can
be said of a panel of local citizens" . . .

The same day Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson issued
a personal attack saying that I was proposing a "wasteful witch
hunt" and was pushing "the worst kind of paranoid conspiracy
pandering".

People in powerful positions have repeatedly attacked those
of us who have been scrutinizing the federal investigation.
Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating was a former FBI agent himself
and spent most of his career in the services of Federal
Departments of the Treasury, Justice and HUD (Housing and Urban
Development). At one time in his career his responsibilities
included the overseeing of the ATF and other federal law
enforcement. Gov. Keating went so far as to say that "raising
questions would not bring one whit of intelligence to the
process." He later escalated his attacks saying those of us who
were raising serious questions were "howling at the moon" and
"off the reservation."

All of these people are literally robbing the victims family
members and survivors -- and all of us -- the opportunity and
right to know the truth.

For nearly two years the negative media coverage seemed
unending. And although I never vowed not to do any fundraising,
going hat in hand was about the last thing I wanted to do. After
all, I wasn't searching for cash, I was searching for answers. I
shudder to think what sort of creative headlines would have
appeared had I operated an active fundraising campaign in the
wake of that tragedy.

In retrospect, I now believe I may have done a disservice by
not fundraising.

First, had I acquired cash reserves for the very worthy
cause I was working on, it would have aided tremendously in
fighting the formidable disinformation and smear campaign waged
by "faceless forces" that appear to have pockets of unending
depth and the mass media at their beck and call.

Second, had I done fundraising, my own family and others
wouldn't have gone into debt by this largely self-funded effort.

WE NOW FACE OUR GREATEST CHALLENGE

Glenn Wilburn, who lost two grand children in the tragedy,
and I filed a petition in November, 1995, to have a local county
grand jury impaneled to investigate the bombing. This independent
grand jury would be fully autonomous of the federal
investigation, and would double in the capacity of a watchdog of
the federal investigation.

Here in Oklahoma, we are very fortunate to be one of only
two states that have a constitutional guarantee that the people
of a county can cause a grand jury to be impaneled whenever they
feel there is a need simply by circulating a petition. It is and
always has been a common occurrence in our state. In fact there
are county grand juries meeting as I write this letter.

The Presiding State District Judge, Dan Owens, tried to stop
us from petitioning to impanel the grand jury and we were forced
to appeal his actions to a higher court. That is where the latest
and some of the most intense criticism has come from recently.
One year after our appeal, we finally got a written opinion from
the Court of Appeals in the Tulsa district. On December 24, 1996
the court ruled not only in our favor, but they did so
unanimously.

But wait--there is more. Not only was it unanimous, but the
court issued the decision "For Publication." That means that it
was such a clear-cut case in regard to the state constitution,
statutes, and previous case law, that it constituted a precedent-
setting case to be used in law books, most likely for many years
to come.

Yet, why is there such extreme opposition to keep this
independent grand jury from being allowed to assemble?
I believe the answer is because some in our federal law
enforcement agencies (i.e. ATF and FBI) had prior knowledge
that certain individuals were planning to bomb the Murrah
Federal Building! I believe that because of at least four reasons:

1) Six different individuals have come forward and reported
seeing the bomb squad in the immediate vicinity of the Murrah
Building early on the morning of the bombing.

2) The Oklahoma City Fire Department received a call from
the FBI the Friday before the bombing and was told to be on the
alert for a possible terrorist attack on a government building.

3) Bruce Shaw, who had frantically come to look for his wife
inside the smoldering building, was told by an ATF agent, "You
won't find any ATF agents in the building because they were
warned on their pagers not to come in this morning and they're
now in a debriefing." This conversation was corroborated by his
boss who accompanied Bruce to help him find his wife.

4) Carol Howe, a paid informant for the ATF has recently
come forward to confirm that she informed the ATF that two
individuals, Dennis Mahon and Andreas Strassmier, were planning
to bomb the federal building in Oklahoma City. She also said that
the likely date for the bombing was April 19!

Prior knowledge on the part of some individuals in the
federal government may also be why the federal prosecutors barred
every single witness to John Doe(s) from the Federal Grand Jury.
Of the more than 20 witnesses to one or more John Doe(s), none -
not even one - were allowed to tell the Grand Jury what they saw.
Additionally, when the prosecution's list of witnesses was
unsealed several weeks ago, we found that the one witness who
will be allowed to testily in the trial to McVeigh being in the
company of a John Doe can't describe in any way who he saw.
Indeed, the best witnesses who can positively place McVeigh in
downtown Oklahoma City that morning saw him with one or more
individuals and are able to describe to some degree what that
person or persons looked like. Those witnesses will not be
allowed to testily at McVeigh's trial.

Incredible? Did you hear that right? Yes, you did. As
bizarre as it sounds, Federal Prosecutors were not allowing any
of those witnesses to be seen or heard by the Federal Grand Jury.
This gives "blind justice" a whole new meaning.

To make this even more clear, the Federal Grand Jury wanted
to interview both the eye witnesses and the sketch artist who
drew the John Doe composites but they were flatly refused by the
federal "authorities." Clearly they were blatantly deprived of
their basic Constitutional rights as grand jurors. Why?

Just what is it that they are trying to accomplish? Or,
perhaps more pointedly, just who are they trying to protect? And
what all are they trying to hide?

Let's not forget, elected officials are supposed to be the
servants of the people and not the other way around. Just what's
going on??? And how are they getting away with it?!!!!!

Our efforts to impanel a county grand jury are important for
numerous reasons. One of the reasons that concerns me most is
that I fear that the record of McVeigh's trial will comprise the
"official story" of what happened If the evidence of prior
knowledge and other perpetrators is not presented in this case, I
fear that the government will be successful in shaping the
official story to permanently exclude that evidence.

The 1993 New York World Trade Center bombing is a case in
point.

Because certain tapes implicating the role of the FBI in
allowing the attack to take place were ruled inadmissible in
court, many people do not know that the FBI indeed had knowledge
prior to that bombing and could have prevented it--yet they
allowed the plot to continue resulting in the deaths of six
innocent people.

Unfortunately the transcripts of that court case have become
the "official story" of what happened in that bombing.

Another reason that I feel that the OKC bombing case is
important and directly effects you is that the government has
gone to a new level of operating out of the bounds of the law and
is becoming more and more arrogant.

A few weeks ago, ABC was getting ready to run a major story
on the prior knowledge issue. The Justice Department became aware
of it and contacted some of the executives at ABC. After
acknowledging the validity of the story they put extreme pressure
on ABC not to air the report saying, "The people couldn't handle
the truth."

I don't know about you but that kind of arrogance sickens me
and leaves me with a eerie feeling. The government must not be
allowed to get away with yet another botched job! The Government
must be held accountable.

The good news...

In spite of the seemingly impenetrable and insurmountable
forces acting against us, on February 18, 1997 the Oklahoma State
Supreme Court miraculously ruled in favor of allowing the
independent local county grand jury and against the Federal
Government's attempt to quash the rights of the people.

Now the forgotten families, survivors, and victims who died
from the blast will have their right to a County Grand Jury and a
full, open and truthful investigation.

The bad news...

Any day now the courts will give us the formalized written
order to begin passing the petitions to impanel the independent
jury, but we're just about stone broke.

For nearly two years, I never conducted so much as a single
fluid-raiser to properly investigate this worst terrorist act in
the history of both our state and the nation. I also know how
tapped most people are these days, but I believe at this point, I
don't have much of a choice.

We now need funds to secure copies of voluminous government
documents, and to pay independent investigators, as well as money
to print, publicize and distribute signature forms to complete
the legal requirements to impanel the County Grand Jury. In
short, this effort is now bigger than what I can handle fiscally
or physically. May I count on your help?

Enclosed is a simple straight forward form asking for
whatever financial assistance you can afford to give. Please do
what you can. We will put you on our mailing list to keep you up
to date on the petition drive and signature gathering process.

The clock is about to begin and we have limited time by law
to gather signatures. And you know that the big players within
the Federal Government are not likely to help us. That is why I
am counting on you.

Thank you for being patient and open-minded enough to read
this letter. Together we can get the truth out, make a real
difference and God willing, see justice prevail. May I please
count on your help?

Sincerely,

Rep. Charles Key

P.S. Elements within the federal government and in the
establishment media have done virtually everything in their power
to block an independent county investigation of the Oklahoma
bombing tragedy. On February 18 the Oklahoma Supreme Court
cleared the way for the people to investigate the Federal
Government and their investigation of the bombing. Next week we
must begin obtaining signatures.

Will you please stand up and be counted? PLEASE FILL OUT THE
ENCLOSED REPLY CARD AND SEND IT BACK TO ME RIGHT AWAY.
It only takes a few moments, and it will make a real difference in the
effort to uncover the truth about the Oklahoma bombing.